NBC Sports boss: Shave the hockey playoff beards

NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus is thrilled about the growth of hockey on NBC, but he has one request to its players: Please shave during the postseason.

Lazarus said he has lobbied the NHL and its players to end the tradition of the playoff beards. He says the excess facial hair hurts player recognition for fans, perhaps hindering the development of new stars during the highest-rated games of the season.

“The players won’t like this, but I wish they all would stop growing beards in the postseason,” Lazarus said. “Let’s get their faces out there. Let’s talk about how young and attractive they are. What model citizens they are. (Hockey players) truly are one of a kind among professional athletes.

“I know it’s a tradition and superstition, but I think (the beards do) hurt recognition. They have a great opportunity with more endorsements. Or simply more recognition with fans saying, ‘That guy looks like the kid next door,’ which many of these guys do. I think that would be a nice thing.”

The great Islanders teams of the 1980s are credited with starting the tradition of the playoff beards. Before that, most players not only didn’t have beards, but many also played without helmets and visors covering their faces.

“You had guys like Bobby Hull, Guy Lafleur, Ron Duguay,” Lazarus said. “These guys were out there with their hair flowing. They were doing jeans commercials.”

Lazarus obviously isn’t advocating getting rid of helmets and visors, but he says the added element of a shaggy beard makes it even more difficult for fans to identify players. He thinks it is a detriment considering the Stanley Cup Final posts the biggest ratings of the year. The Blackhawks-Lightning series is generating strong ratings for NBC and NBCSN.

Former Blackhawk Brent Sopel, who played defense on the 2010 Stanley Cup team, says he can’t see the players veering away from tradition. Sopel currently is sporting a bushy mustache while working as an analyst for NBC-5 during the playoffs.

“I understand the marketing side of it,” said Sopel, who retired in February. “But there are 82 regular-season games, and we’re 110 games into the season. Everyone should be able to recognize our faces by now.

“If you ask a player to get rid of his beard, he’ll say you’re crazy. The tradition, the camaraderie of everyone having facial hair and winning the Stanley Cup, it all goes hand in hand.”

Lazarus, though, isn’t just any old “TV guy.” He is the sports head of NBC which is in the midst of a 10-year, $2 billion TV deal with the NHL. What he thinks does carry plenty of weight in the league offices.